E-commerce has grown exponentially during the last decade. The majority of sales revenue, however, was generated by the sales of tangible goods and services due, among other factors, to improved public confidence in transaction security.
Sales of products available for purchase online (i.e., through the Internet) continue to lag behind this trend primarily because of a prospective purchaser's perceived risk of receiving material of dubious value or relevancy, their inability to evaluate relevance and/or quality of a product prior to making the decision to actually purchase the product or material, the practical limitations on their ability to effectively return unsatisfactory products or obtain a refund for such products, the risks associated with providing personal and financial information to an unknown seller, and their perception that a suitable free-of-charge product is or may be available on another website.
Attempts have been made by various sellers to overcome these impediments by offering products with a deferred payment option or simply offering products free of charge in an attempt to receive some indirect compensation.
Other contributing factors that tend to force e-sellers to give away their products are an inability to adequately advertise themselves as a brand, an inability to form and sustain long-term relationships with their potential customers, the difficulties with portraying a product's value and relevance to their prospective customers, and the absence of a system that encourages payment for a valuable product or service.
In an effort to get at least some monetary compensation for their products or services some providers of software, music, art, professional services, scientific and research papers, expert help, business consulting, image processing and others seek voluntary payments from consumers. Often these providers depend upon Tips and Donation payment schemes. However, because such schemes request a voluntary payment prior to delivery of the content or service when the value of the content is still uncertain, few, if any, such content providers have effectively captured commensurate value on a consistent basis. These content providers must contend with the facts that their potential customers have no way to evaluate the usefulness and relevance of their product before paying for it, that often there is no on-going relationship between a seller and a buyer, thus it is not safe to pay in advance of delivery of the product or service, and that even if a customer is satisfied with the product or service there is little assurance that a buyer will make a donation at a date much after the product is received and used unless they are reminded of their implied obligation to do so.
Embodiments of the present invention have been made in light of these and other considerations. However, the relatively specific problems discussed above do not limit the applicability of the embodiments of the present invention.